--- title: Ecclesiastes 6:3 (JPS 1917) — If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the… · tree and pragmatics description: If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul have not enough of good, and moreover he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he; Who acts: man, days, soul, I. 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The page gives the sentence's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, parsed by Mova and checked by a teacher model — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, days, soul, I), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it. The original of the verse links back to its own tree and to the Targum. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = jps:ECC:113 # text = If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul have not enough of good, and moreover he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he; 1 If if SCONJ IN _ 4 mark _ _ 2 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 beget beget VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 hundred hundred NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 7 nummod _ _ 7 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obj _ _ 8 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 10 live live VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 11 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 amod _ _ 12 years year NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 obl:unmarked _ _ 13 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 14 so so SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 22 mark _ _ 15 that that SCONJ IN _ 14 fixed _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 days day NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 nsubj _ _ 18 of of ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 19 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 20 nmod:poss _ _ 20 years year NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 nmod _ _ 21 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 22 cop _ _ 22 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 advcl _ _ 23 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 24 but but CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 25 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 26 nmod:poss _ _ 26 soul soul NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nsubj _ _ 27 have have VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 10 conj _ _ 28 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 27 advmod _ _ 29 enough enough ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 obj _ _ 30 of of ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 31 good good ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 nmod _ _ 32 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 34 moreover moreover ADV RB _ 36 advmod _ _ 35 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 36 have have VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 27 conj _ _ 37 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 38 det _ _ 38 burial burial NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obj _ _ 39 ; ; PUNCT : _ 41 punct _ _ 40 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 41 say say VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 42 , , PUNCT , _ 48 punct _ _ 43 that that SCONJ IN _ 48 mark _ _ 44 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 45 untimely untimely ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 46 amod _ _ 46 birth birth NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 nsubj _ _ 47 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 48 cop _ _ 48 better good ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 41 ccomp _ _ 49 than than ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 50 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 48 obl _ _ 51 ; ; PUNCT : _ 41 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} - form: statement - act: assert - voice: character - polarity: none - teacher: kept the draft | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **beget** | present | a man | hundred children | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Patient | | 2 | **live** | present | a man *not said here* | | | | year | | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **is** | present | the days of God's years | | | | | many *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **not** **have** | present | God's soul | enough of good | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent enough=Patient | | 5 | **have** | present | soul | no burial | | | | moreover *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent burial=Patient | | 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | I | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **is** | present | a untimely birth | | | | | than soul; good *property* | tree rules | One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree. ## The Hebrew of this verse {#hebrew} אִם־יוֹלִ֣יד אִ֣ישׁ מֵאָ֡ה וְשָׁנִים֩ רַבּ֨וֹת יִֽחְיֶ֜ה וְרַ֣ב ׀ שֶׁיִּהְי֣וּ יְמֵֽי־שָׁנָ֗יו וְנַפְשׁוֹ֙ לֹא־תִשְׂבַּ֣ע מִן־הַטּוֹבָ֔ה וְגַם־קְבוּרָ֖ה לֹא־הָ֣יְתָה לּ֑וֹ אָמַ֕רְתִּי ט֥וֹב מִמֶּ֖נּוּ הַנָּֽפֶל׃ [Ecclesiastes 6:3: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.6.3/) **Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:ECC:113` of Mova's parse database. **The tree and the speech act** come from Mova's cycle: the small model's draft, read by a large model as teacher, passed by Mova's gates (Elamur Cosmic License). **The frames** are read from the tree by Mova's frames reader (`prag`) when this page is built, the chapter read in order, so a pronoun may be resolved from an earlier sentence of the chapter. - ← previous: [Ecclesiastes 6:2 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.112/) - next →: [Ecclesiastes 6:4 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.114/) - ↑ back to [Ecclesiastes 6:3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.6.3/)